The Salvation Army Northwest collects a gym full of Christmas presents to serve 50 families every 30 minutes.

The Salvation Army Northwest collects a gym full of Christmas presents to serve 50 families every 30 minutes.

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Volunteers work to distribute Christmas presents to families in need every 30 minutes.

Volunteers work to distribute Christmas presents to families in need every 30 minutes.

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Christmas Gifts distributed to ‘Angel Tree’ program participants

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They may not have elves, a sleigh and reindeer, but volunteers at the Salvation Army still manage to bring Christmas cheer to thousands of disadvantaged children throughout Houston every year.

From Dec. 18-20, six Salvation Army Corps locations across the greater Houston area distributed bags of gifts to families in time for Christmas Day as part of 123-year-old Angel Tree Program.

Major Stan Carr has served as pastor and a volunteer with the ministry at The Northwest Corps Community Center for the past 28 years. In that time, he’s seen the ministry grow with the area. Now, the ministry is serving 600 families a day or 50 families a minute, amounting to about 3,538 families at the northwest location and 25,000 at all six Houston locations, he said.

Last year, the organization was able to serve more than 36,000 individuals in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties thanks to the support of the Greater Houston region. The program works by asking individuals and businesses to donors to provide new unwrapped gifts to a specific child or senior registered with the “Angel Tree” Christmas assistance program, which are then collected and distributed by volunteers.

“We try not to turn any away,” said Carr. “Basically, if they qualify for any assistance, we will help them.

At one point, they wanted to do quotas, but we thought as long as the community came through, we wouldn’t turn anyone away.”

What makes the program unique is that children are able to make a list of gifts they want, and they usually get them, said Carr.

Families in need can sign up for assistance at one of seven Salvation Army registration locations. ¬They must meet the federal minimum poverty guidelines to qualify. The program serves children ranging in age from infants to 12 years old and seniors who are 62 and older.

“There is such a need for this in the community. We see some people cry when they receive their bags. They are just so grateful,” said Salvation Army employee Jason Hero.

Volunteer Ricki Pilgrim has been volunteering with the charity since she can remember, but she’s still amazed by the sheer number of people serve.

“It’s amazing to see the place fill up and then seeing how many people we help,” she said.

Janet Jones is caring for her 22-year-old daughter and 3-year-old grandson while her daughter looks for work, she said.

One of the most popular gifts is bicycles bikes, but we only distribute a couple hundred of them, said Carr.

While not everyone receives a bicycle, most receive something they request.

Like many grandparents, Jones wants to be able to buy her grandson everything, especially a Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Crawl Around Car and coat, but she’s narrowed it down to a tool that she believes will benefit him the most.

“We really wanted to get my grandson a LeapFrog [tablet]. He has a speech impediment and I wanted him to learn how to count. I think that would really help him,” she said. “They are about $69. We can’t afford that.”

While Jones doesn’t know yet what’s in her grandson’s bag, she said she wants to be surprised with him on Christmas.

“It’s truly a blessing for the community to help us out during Christmas time. It was really kind of them and we’re very grateful,” she said.